<p>This paper considers the solution structure of non-trivial, non-constant stationary states of 1D spatial parabolic equations with nonlinear self-diffusion and logistic growth terms. A two-dimensional ordinary differential equation satisfying the stationary problem is derived and all its dynamics, including at infinity, is revealed by the Poincaré–Lyapunov compactification, one of the compactifications of phase space. The advantage of this method is that it can be used to classify all dynamical systems (especially connecting orbits) of a two-dimensional system including infinity. Therefore, the classification results for the dynamical system including to infinity give the classification results for the non-constant stationary states obtained only from the structure of the original equations. This argument allows us to observe a change in the classification of the non-constant stationary states by an explicit relation between the linear diffusion coefficient and the self-diffusion coefficient, combined with arguments about the symmetries and conserved quantities of the ODEs. This means that changing the self-diffusion coefficient as a bifurcation parameter not only qualitatively changes the dynamical system from a big saddle homoclinic orbit of the ODEs to a heteroclinic orbit that connects the saddle equilibria, but also significantly changes the shape and the properties of the stationary states. It explicitly shows the relationship between linear and self-diffusion, gives a characterization of non-trivial stationary states in terms of dynamical systems, and gives a deep insight into the influence of self-diffusion, one of the nonlinear diffusions.</p>